‘Jam-packed’: Georgina residents fear local waterfront parks will become tourist destinations

Georgina’s waterfront parks master plan shinning a light on hidden lakeside locations

Yorkregion.com
Aug. 16, 2022
Amanda Persico

During this heat, it seems everyone wants to be closer to the cool waters of Lake Simcoe.

Out-of-towners flock to Willow and De La Salle beaches, while local residents wade into the water at secluded sites scattered along Georgina’s shoreline.

The town is currently working on its waterfront parks master plan, providing a vision for its beaches, harbours, parks and public spaces.

The first phase, which started in 2020, examined high-traffic, tourist locations such as Willow and De La Salle beaches, Jackson’s Point Harbour and Bonnie Park.

The second phase focuses on plots of lakeside land along Lake Simcoe, spanning from the leash-free dog park in Keswick to plots along the Pefferlaw River and the Pefferlaw Dam Conservation Area.

The final phase is to provide recommendations on future economic development and business opportunities, a waterfront parking strategy as well as a 10-year implementation plan.

The second phase is now shinning a light on those hidden lakeside locations -- and nearby residents are worried those pockets will suddenly become busy tourist attractions without the necessary infrastructure.

Riverview Park, located at the end of Riverview Beach Road and Irving Drive, about a kilometre east of Holmes Point Park on the east end of town, is one of those secluded plots of waterfront land.

Or it used to be.

“On the weekend, it is jam-packed,” said neighbouring resident Palma Polesel. “You can’t see much of the grass anywhere.”

Putting up to the 0.7 acre plot of lakeside land are residents like Polesel with only a private hedge fencing in the park.

Polesel has come home to find sunbathers, their pets and often their garbage and refuse left behind in her backyard as beachgoers assume her private piece of paradise is part of the public park.

Earlier this summer, the Planning Partnership, the consulting firm behind the master plan, hosted several virtual public consultation sessions. Many residents living near open spaces with waterfront access were hesitant of big, broad-based improvements that would lure tourists from outside Georgina.

For many, these patches of waterfront parks should be viewed as small neighbourhood parks -- not tourist destinations.

“I'm not under any illusions that this is a private area,” said Polesel, who is part of the area’s ratepayers association. “Our main focus is to keep a hand or a voice in what happens here.

“I understand why (the town) wants a master plan, for progress in the future. But that plan should never precede what the neighbourhood thinks.”

The waterfront master plan, a great idea in principle, will serve as a business plan and a schedule for the future of the town, said Lee Dale, who has been engaged in the process from the beginning.

But when it comes to Georgina’s 52 kilometres of shoreline, no two plots are the same and nor should consultants take a one-size-fits-all approach, said Dale, who is also running in the upcoming municipal election.

“We’re not Innisfil. We’re not Barrie. We’re not Orillia,” he said. “Our waterfront is scattered. We have these pockets with no parking, no infrastructure.

“We want to highlight our 52 kilometres of shoreline; we want to highlight our tourism. But it doesn’t fit in this specific place. Some things don’t belong.”

Instead of lumping small lakeside pockets together with large tourist attractions, Dale said, there should be a separate plan for each location, based on the neighbourhood, infrastructure and amenities.

There is also no parking at Riverview Park.

After years of complaints of beachgoers parking on both sides of the narrow two-lane road, blocking residents in their driveways and emergency vehicles from passing through, the town recently added no-parking zones along stretches of Irving Drive.

The town owns two plots of land on Irving Drive that could be used for parking.

“You want people to access the water, access this beautiful park, but you can’t park your car,” Dale said.

Irving Drive is also slated for reconstruction starting in the spring of 2023.

For more information, visit georgina.ca/WaterfrontParksPlan.